For a seller, the hard part of a loan sale is rarely getting a first number. It is knowing whether that number will still be there at purchase. Bids change when diligence finds something nobody expected, and they change late when diligence finds things one at a time.
CorrFirst reviews the entire file on every loan we buy, and we use AI to help do it. This article explains where that review sits in the process and why it makes diligence faster and the bid more reliable.
Where the review sits in the process
Full-file review is part of diligence, not part of the bid. The order is:
- Submit. Upload a loan tape, or register your loans in the CorrFirst seller portal.
- Get a bid. We send a price on each loan or the pool within 24 hours, based on the tape or portal data.
- Accept and deliver. If you accept, you deliver the loan file.
- Diligence. Our AI underwriting reviews the entire file, and our underwriters clear it.
- Purchase. Once diligence is cleared, we buy the loan when the collateral documents are received and cleared.
- Servicing transfer. Servicing moves after purchase.
The bid is fast because it is priced on data. Diligence is fast because of how the file is reviewed. After a bid is accepted, full-file review is why diligence moves fast, we close what we commit to, and we don't retrade.
What sample diligence means for a seller
In the broader market, it is common for a buyer of a larger pool to review a sample of the loan files and rely on the seller's representations and warranties for the rest. Sampling saves the buyer time. It also leaves risk in place. A problem in a loan that was never reviewed does not go away; it surfaces later, sometimes after the trade has closed, as a repurchase request.
For the seller, that is the worst time to learn about a defect. The capital has been redeployed and the loan has to be bought back.
What full-file review covers
Once you deliver the file, CorrFirst's AI underwriting reviews all of it on every loan, not a sample. That includes:
- The appraisal and valuation: the comparables, the approach, the as-is and after-repair values where they apply, and whether the appraisal meets our sourcing standards.
- The construction budget and feasibility: on rehab and ground-up loans, whether the budget supports the scope of work and the projected value.
- Every loan condition: each condition set at origination, and the evidence that it was cleared.
The tools read and cross-check the documents and flag what needs attention: a value that does not tie to the comparables, a budget line that looks thin for the scope, a condition marked cleared with nothing behind it, a file that does not match the tape the bid was priced on.
Underwriters make every decision
The AI does not decide whether we buy a loan. Our underwriters review its findings, check them against the file, and clear each one. Every loan we purchase has been cleared by a person who has looked at it.
The value of the tools is coverage and consistency. A person reading hundreds of pages can miss a detail on page two hundred. Software that has read every page can point the underwriter to it. The underwriter then decides whether it matters, which is a judgment the software is not asked to make.
Why diligence clears faster
Reading every page sounds slower. In practice it removes the slowest part of diligence: the back-and-forth that happens when issues surface one at a time. When the whole file is reviewed at once, questions come back together, early, and usually once. You can answer them, or pull the loan, while the trade is still on schedule.
Why there are no surprises between acceptance and purchase
Our bid holds through the commitment period unless diligence finds a material defect. That commitment only means something if diligence is thorough and finishes before purchase. Because every page is reviewed before we buy, nothing is left to surface after the trade as a repurchase request, and nothing turns up late enough to reopen the price.
It also changes the conversation about pools. A seller does not have to wonder which loans were in the sample and which were not. Every loan is reviewed the same way, whether it is sold alone or with others.
What sellers can do to help
Start with a tape built from the documents, so the bid is priced on data the file will confirm. Then, after you accept, deliver a complete file:
- Executed loan documents and the closing package.
- The full appraisal, not a summary.
- For rehab and construction loans, the budget, draw schedule, draw history, inspection reports and remaining holdback.
- Evidence for every cleared condition.
A thin file can still be reviewed, but the review will mostly produce requests for what is missing, and diligence waits on them.
What full-file review does not change
Our standards are the same with or without the tools. Appraisals must come through an AMC using a local appraiser, every unit must be inspected, and loans with subordinate financing are not eligible. The review helps us find those issues reliably; it does not relax them.
There are still no minimums: one loan or the whole book, servicing-released or retained. Seller approval runs alongside submission, the bid and acceptance.
To see how diligence fits into the rest of the process, read how we buy loans.
